


Call It What You Want

by LittleMsStark3000



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov Friendship, F/M, IronWidow - Freeform, Natasha Romanov Feels, Natasha Romanov Is Not A Robot, POV Natasha Romanov, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-09
Updated: 2019-12-09
Packaged: 2021-02-26 21:08:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21735412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleMsStark3000/pseuds/LittleMsStark3000
Summary: Natasha knew what the moon tattoo-like mark on her right wrist meant: it determined the time she has actually spent with her soulmate.And once the moon reached full, it was time for the two of them to be together.
Relationships: Natasha Romanov & Tony Stark, Natasha Romanov/Tony Stark
Comments: 18
Kudos: 122





	Call It What You Want

**Author's Note:**

> Response to a Tumblr prompt:
> 
> "Ironwidow soulmate au: where timers indicate how long you've spent in the presence of your soulmate"

**_All the drama queens taking swings  
All the jokers dressing up as kings  
They fade to nothing when I look at him_ **

*****

Natasha knew what the moon tattoo-like mark on her right wrist meant: it determined the time she has actually spent with her soulmate. And once the moon reached full, it was time for the two of them to be together.

She never paid attention to that when she was still with KGB as an assassin. Why would she when she had to either take lives or run for her own life back then? She did not even believe in such crazy idea and would curse at the thought of it during the very few times that she found herself wanting to live a normal life...

_Impossible._

But she knew, at that time, it was just a small straight line on her wrist.

*****

After Clint rescued her from the hell she was in and helped her join SHIELD as an agent, Natasha would subconsciously think about the possibility of a normal life again... All the more when Clint confessed to her about having a hidden pregnant girlfriend and wanting to marry the woman. She was happy for her friend, the man she has started to treat as a brother and only family.

And for her... 

_Is it really impossible?_

She would brush aside the little voice in her head and shake off the hope that could just hurt her later on. That night, she saw the mark again, still a small straight line... and swore not to look at it ever again.

*****

A couple of years have passed. Natasha was used to the routine of being sent out to overseas or short-term missions by SHIELD. Until she got the assignment of going undercover for Tony Stark, meeting that guy behind Ironman, and eventually becoming teammates with him. The Avengers Initiative pushed through: she, Tony and Clint with two superhumans and a god from another world made up the earth's mightiest heroes.

It was after their first mission together where she got injured that she saw her mark again... As she attended to her own wounds, she noticed her wrist where the small straight line has turned into a black crescent shape.

Natasha froze.

_How is that possible?_

Though she refused to accept it, she might have already met her soulmate.

*****

Natasha made conscious efforts to hide her mark from herself and everyone else. She has her suit during their fights, so that was the least of her problems. Off missions, she wore long sleeved shirts or jackets over her tops. She wore watches, bangles or any bracelet during undercover assignment.

To top it all, she never let herself wonder if anyone of her teammates - the people she was almost always with in the Avengers compound - has the same growing soulmate mark.

_I don't care if that's even possible._

Until one night, after waking up from a terrible nightmare, she found herself hugging her knees and staring at her mark... It was half full.

*****

The earth was peaceful for months. No alien invasion. No massive attacks. No war or signs of it.

Natasha did not like feeling this peaceful, at least not within herself. It was like a lull before the storm. Add to that the fact that when she had no huge tasks to do, her mind would wander again...

And she could not let that happen.

Not when she was falling for a certain genius billionaire. 

Not when she has reached a point of wanting him to see her more than as a teammate.

Not when she has killed and buried these thoughts and emotions a number of times through different means, yet they surfaced again everytime her eyes met Tony's over breakfast, lunch, dinner, or while training, or when they attend required events together, or when they caught each other in the common area during wee hours and they both were unable to sleep, so they would resort to drinking lightly and talking about their nightmares.

Love is for children. A broken human like her, she believed, should not hold on to perfect moments and happy endings anymore.

So Natasha has made up her mind: for her to stop wishing for the impossible, she would deliberately erase the soulmate mark.

Why hasn't she thought about that before?

_You have, but you didn't, because you were still hoping for the possibility._

Just when she was about to literally scrape the full circle mark off of her wrist, somebody knocked on her room's door.

She opened it and saw Tony standing right there.

"Can we talk?" he asked.

Their gazes locked.


End file.
